Whether you’re using a shotgun, handgun, or rifle, one thing that is universally accepted among all their users is the need for an enhancer like a scope or sight. Users of these weapons long for something that’ll make shooting more enjoyable and can also improve accuracy. This is why the optics industry has grown tremendously over the past three decades. In this article, you’ll see two of the biggest brands in the industry, house Vortex, and house Trijicon go head to head in a winner-takes-all match – who will emerge victoriously? Your guess is as good as mine.
To make it even more enthralling, we’ve picked two of the top-selling sights from these brands that shotgun and rifle owners can use – Vortex venom and Trijicon RMR. This is going to be an epic battle between two of the best in this niche.
Optics for pistols are fast-growing on the users of this weapons type, further helped by manufacturers making pistols that you can use with optics. Optics makes your pistol shooting experience better and more effective. You shoot faster and aim better when you use an optic. This guide focuses on two red dot sights for pistols, albeit with varying quality, build and even price. They are some of the best in this niche, so we’ll look out what makes them stand out and which is best between the two if you had to get only one.
Table of Contents
Vortex Venom 6 MOA Red Dot Sight
The Vortex Venom 6 MOA sight offers accuracy and precision at close distances. It is a low-profile sight perfect for pistols and handguns as it allows you to use it seamlessly. Like other red dot sights, the vortex Venom sight has no magnification, which is not a problem since it’s mainly for short-range shooting.
There’s also an option of adding a magnifier to the set-up if you want to use it for longer distances.
The vortex venom sight has unlimited eye relief, so you don’t need to worry about injuries when using the sight. It is also parallax-free across Any distance. Its windage and elevation adjustments are set at 1 MOA per click. You get fast and precise adjustments with this MOA rating.
The venom sight is built with precision and comfort in mind. It has a top-loading battery compartment which makes battery replacement easy without removing the sight from the pistol. It uses CR 1632 battery type, which may not be as popular as CR 2032. The material used to build the sight’s housing is precision machined, hard-anodized aluminum. This provides a solid and durable sight that wouldn’t crumble when faced with some hard knocks. The sight is compact, lightweight, and is made from a single-piece design. It weighs just 1.1 ounces and is 1.9 inches long.
The controls for power and dot intensity are laid-back and located to the left of the unit. It has a premium wide-field lens attached, and all its lenses are coated with anti-scratch and ultra-hard ArmorTek coatings. There are also anti-reflective coatings on all the out lenses to improve light transmission through the sight and provide better image quality.
Vortex venom sight has ten available brightness settings you can switch to in manual or automatic mode. This will allow you to use this sight in diverse light conditions. The venom sight uses a 14-hour automated battery shutdown system to optimize battery usage. You’ll enjoy up to 150 hours of use at the highest brightness and 30,000 hours at the lowest brightness setting.
Some of the attachments the vortex venom comes with are weaver/Picatinny mounts, screwdrivers, mounting screws, rain cover, lens cloth, and T-15 Torx wrench.
Pros
- Low profile sight that you can use with other attachments
- 14-hour battery shutdown system to optimize battery usage
- Ten brightness settings are available to enable you to use the sight in different light conditions
- Top loading battery compartment for easy replacement
- Fully multi-coated lenses for added protection and visibility
- Compact and lightweight design
- Full-field lens view, which is one of the widest in the red dot industry
- Built with durable materials, O-ring sealed, making it waterproof, fogproof, and shockproof.
Cons
- It uses the less popular CR 1632 instead of the common CR 2032 battery type that most sights and scopes use
For a Detailed Review On Vortex Venom, You Can Read Our Article: Vortex Venom Red Dot Review 2023
Trijicon RMR Type 2 6.5 MOA Red Dot Sight
The Trijicon RMR red dot has a 6.5 MOA red dot which is the biggest MOA sight available in the LED and Adjustable LED niche. The military and law enforcement mainly use this sight. The sight has a patented housing and is made explicitly for slide ride pistols. Trijicon sights are popular optics, especially among combatants, and the RMR is no different. The RMR optic uses the famous Trijicon ACOG sight that is referred to highly by shooters, especially combatants.
If you’re shooting in environments where you constantly have to move between varying light conditions like dark to light and vice versa, you’ll find the adjustable LED feature quite useful for illumination control. The sight’s housing is made from precision machined and hard anodized forged aluminium for a solid and durable casing. Accidental bumps on hard surfaces will not damage your lens or sight in general and force you into buying another.
Its illumination setting is compatible with night vision devices, and you can switch between manual and automatic options. The buttons allow you to adjust the RMR, switch between automatic and manual mode and also choose the brightness setting suitable for the light available. In automatic mode, the tritium-phosphor lamp and fiber optic system will use the available light to adjust the sight’s brightness, thereby improving its ease of use.
As always, this red dot sight has 1x magnification and 1 MOA adjustment per click when modifying the elevation and windage position to get perfect shots. The controls for the windage and elevation are at the top and side of the sight and are finger-adjustable.
Trijicon RMR weighs 1.2 ounces, is 1.8 inches long, 1.1 inches wide, and 1 inch high. It uses the popular CR 2032 with an expected battery life of 4 years if you use it at the mid brightness level. The lens is multi-coated to prevent image distortion. Another plus to this sight is that you can also use it on rifles and shotguns.
Some of the things you’ll find in the box are the Trijicon sticker, RMR manual, warranty card, 2 RMR screwHex wrenches, and 1 CR 2032 battery.
Pros
- 6.5 MOA red dot, which is the biggest in this niche
- It uses the popular CR 2032 battery which will make it easier to get replacements
- You can also use the sight on rifles and shotguns
- Finger adjustable turrets for fast and easy adjustments
- Limited lifetime warranty
- Waterproof to 20 meters submerged
- Special and durable housing
- Good battery life
Cons
- It is not the most affordable sight
Also Read: 3 MOA Vs 6 MOA {Which One to Pick and Why?}
Close Up Comparison
Now that you’ve seen what each red dot sight stands for, we can go a step further by pitting them against each other to see which comes out on top.
Durability
Venom is a durable red dot sight made from hard-anodized aluminium, and its lens is fully multi-coated to prevent damage. Vortex put a lot into this sight to make it rugged while remaining compact. Trijicon’s RMR, on the other hand, is also a rugged beast of a red dot sight. In fact, RMR stands for ruggedized miniature reflex, which shows how much durability is put into this sight. It is made to withstand recoil even from powerful rifles with its casing formed from military-grade aluminium. The Trijicon RMR red dot sight just edges Vortex’s Venom sight here.
Battery
Vortex venom is fitted with CR 1632 battery which is not the most popular but has a sound battery optimization system that is the 14-hour battery shutdown. There are also ten brightness settings to explore. Trijicon RMR, however, uses CR 2032 battery which is the most popular battery type used in the optics industry. It also has an automatic brightness adjustment feature and 11 brightness settings to explore. Trijicon RMR comes out on top when it comes to battery and brightness settings.
Price
Pricing is just as crucial as any other factor to consider when looking for an optic to buy for your pistol. Vortex Venom is priced at around $230, while the RMR goes for about $500 as at the time of writing this. This shows that vortex venom is the clear winner in this category.
Summary
Vortex venom and Trijicon RMR are two of the most popular pistol red dot sights in the market today. Even though their qualities and prices are different, they have continued to split opinions on the best among them. This article has provided the necessary information to help you make the right decision when choosing between the two sights.
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